Mood Diaries

I was wondering if anyone else keeps a mood diary? I started keeping one about 6 weeks ago, and although I didn't think it would help me at all, it turns out that it helps a lot! I looked at some online ones, but the problem with them (for me) is that they only give you one mood to pick from for the entire day, and my mood and my anxiety shift throughout the day. I typed up a simple daily sheet to fill in and then took it to a copy shop and got copies, and I use a three hole punch and keep them in a binder. It's helpful to be able to look back, especially when I'm depressed, because sometimes I feel like things aren't getting better when they actually are. I also have noticed some trends in my moods and anxiety levels (I tend to be more anxious and depressed at night). I just have the following on my daily sheet:

Date
Wake up time
Energy Level AM
Energy Level afternoon
Energy Level PM
Am Meds
Afternoon Meds
Pm Meds
OTC Meds
Anxiety AM
Anxiety afternoon
Anxiety PM
Mood AM
Mood afternoon
Mood PM
Nap/Rest (time and duration)
Bedtime
Notes

I rank my anxiety as: none, very mild, mild, mild - moderate, moderate, moderate - severe, or severe.
For my moods I do pretty much the same thing; I rate the hypomania or depression in the above categories or as baseline. I also note if I'm feeling bored or frustrated or irritable or anything with my mood.

I just wanted to put the idea out for you all, I encourage you to give it a try for a couple of weeks and see if it helps you at all.

Hi grizmom! Yup, have kept one for over a year (with a gap or two) and agree with you that they can be very useful and provide helpful insights. For me, one of the biggest bonuses is visually being able to see the patterns. I am very challenged with time frames (and time in general) and when in the midst of an episode lose all perspective of the other pole. Know them *intellectually*, but because I'm not *there* at that time, can't fully acknowledge their reality, if that makes any sense... Seeing them can help a bit with perspective.

I made a likert scale (0-5) on many of the symptoms I have such as suicidal, overwhelmed, anxiety, etc. When I start struggling I use that to rate my current state although I don't think about it when I'm well. Another thing I use at time is call Optimist - which is a online or Mac OS mood charting system with triggers, staying well strategies. You can customize the lists of behaviors to fit your symptoms. It, however, only allows for one evaluation a day and you can't rate a range of mood if you happen to be someone who has ultra rapid cycling. It works for me b/c my moods are sustained over time -- days to months. You can check it out at http://www.findingoptimism.com/

Thanks grizmom... I have also used mood charts in the past. I found a great one online that has all of the things you put in yours basically. You essentially mark your mood highs and lows for the day, write hours of sleep, anxiety, irritability, meds, and it also tracks your menstrual cycle (if applicable), as well as tracking your weight once a week. I just found it online and printed it off. That's great that you have your own homemade one that works for you. HUrray for you for having the motivation to come up with the idea and then carry it out and then use it!!!! I don't chart my mood now, but it has been helpful multiple times in the past. Thanks again! Glad it's working out for you!

I have only just started doing this and I hope that it will help me to see a pattern to my moods. Your method is much more detailed and organized than mine is. I simply jot a few things down a day like what I did or how I was feeling. I think I need to look online for a format for a more detailed one. Thanks so much for the idea!

I decided to make a line graph to be more able to see a pattern in my mood and anxiety, so I looked around online and found this site: http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx I just did a graph for Feb. 13 - Feb. 28, and one for Mar. 1 - Mar. 15. On days that my mood or anxiety ratings were pretty similar all day, I just put one entry, and for days that my mood or anxiety fluctuated significantly I put in two entries. It was kind of fun to do actually, and it will be helpful to show my doctor next time. I realized I've actually had more depression lately than I realized. Most days it's not been severe, but I am going to ask about maybe adjusting my meds a bit more, maybe add a mild anti-depressant or something in addition to my Lamictal and other meds.

Just thought I would share in case anyone was interested!

I recently started using a mood chart again. I never could stick with them before, but I found one online then customized it with extra things I wanted to track and it has been much more helpful and easier to stick with.

The chart I use has high/low moods for the day, hours of sleep, meds taken, drug/alcohol use, and weight (twice a month). I added tracking for my m. cycle, headaches, therapy sessions, and bad dreams.

I think it's easier for me to keep up using this chart because it tracks more of what I'm interested in. In the past, I just used the one the doc gave me and I never stuck with it more than a few days.

I think you'll find your chart helpful, especially since you are tracking the particular things that are important to you.

Good luck.

You found one that has room for more than just one mood entry per day? Would you mind sharing the link to it? I'd be interested in checking it out. I was only able to find ones that gave me one option for my mood each day which is why I created my own. Thanks

I've been keeping a mood journal since at least 2007. Enter everything from what I did and how I felt to med changes and hours of sleep. The problem is, I don't ever read back over them. There is too much information. Perhaps someday I'll get back to it. As for charts, I take the depression and mania test on PC here every night and I enter the numbers into an Excel spreadsheet where I have a chart that tracks my highs and lows. It's been very helpful in getting an overall picture of my episodes.

If anyone would like some sort of chart done in Excel, let me know.

I've been trying to do one, but I haven't really gotten all my thoughts together on it yet.

I'm going to try to post my chart in my picture albums to show you how it looks. The numbers for mania and depression range from 0 to 78 and I started keeping track regularly in June or July of '09. The red is for mania and the blue is for depression. The episodes are pretty obvious. I could explain how to do it for anyone who wants to give it a try. Excel really makes the chart for you once you have the data in columns selected. The left margin doesn't look so nice because it can't fit all the dates that each scoring happened. But the top is the most recent and the bottom is the oldest.

Here's the one I use. It says, if you have more than one mood per day, to check boxes for the highest and lowest moods you experienced. I use the blank lines between sections to mark other things like therapy days, migraines, and nightmares.
http://www.cqaimh.org/pdf/tool_edu_moodchart.pdf

This is a similar chart, but I find the other easier to stick with.
http://www.healthyplace.com/images/s...hart_blank.pdf

Hope it is helpful.